He also called off all other agitation plans, including a jail bharo protest and gherao of MPs' residence.

The first day of his hunger strike in Mumbai drew just 3,500 people, well down on the 50,000-strong crowds that supported his previous fast in August in New Delhi.

Apparently, Tuesday’s passage of the Lokpal bill in the Lok Sabha (lower house) has taken all the steam out of Hazare's campaign as only a few hundred turned out for the second morning of his hunger strike Wednesday, forcing him to call it off.

The 74-year-old activist made the surprise announcement midway through his three-day fast at MMRDA ground which reported poor attendance of people for the second continuous day, in stark contrast to the mass swelling in Delhi earlier this year during his three fasts.

"...Whatever we are seeing today in Parliament is tragic. So, I have decided to call off the fast today. There is only one way now. We will make a program in the five states and go and awaken people there. I will tell them don’t vote for traitors," he told a sparsely attended protest meeting in the afternoon.

"Now two years are left for the general elections. In between, I will go to various parts of the country and keep awakening the people till next general elections," he said.

Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal said, "Everything (all agitations) has been called off.”

Earlier, the government sighed with relief Wednesday after Parliament's lower house passed an anti-corruption bill that has become a political albatross around the neck of Premier Manmohan Singh's coalition. The bill, creating a powerful ombudsman to probe graft among politicians and civil servants, was passed by a voice vote in the Lok Sabha (lower house) late Tuesday after a fractious debate.

The legislation has dominated the political agenda in India for months, piling pressure on Singh's administration which was already the target of fierce criticism over a series of high-profile corruption scandals.

The government had to redraft an earlier version in the wake of mass protests across the country in August, spearheaded by Hazare who insisted the proposed bill was too weak.

Hazare and opposition parties had opposed the re-draft on the same grounds, and the 74-year-old activist began a fresh, three-day public fast on Tuesday in Mumbai to try to pressure Parliament into rejecting the bill. Hazare and his supporters maintain that a draft law passed by the lower house of parliament late on Tuesday is weak and ineffectual as it shields the country's federal police from scrutiny.

The government's victory was tempered by its failure to get the two-thirds majority required to make the bill a constitutional amendment.

"This is a bit of disappointment that it could not be passed," Singh said afterward. The government Wednesday said the Lokpal bill will be tabled for debate in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

Rajya Sabha will take up Lokpal Bill for discussion tomorrow," Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla told reporters.

There is also a strong chance that final passage of the bill could be delayed as it faces a rough ride in the upper house of Parliament, where Singh's ruling coalition is in the minority.

Nevertheless, analysts said Tuesday's vote would give a major boost to the government, which has suffered a series of legislative setbacks in recent months and battled repeated accusations of policy drift.

"They have proved that they can get things done and learn from their mistakes," said Sanjay Kumar from the Center for the Study of Developing Societies

It will give an especially welcome fillip to Singh’s ruling Congress party ahead of a series of crucial state elections over the next two months.

"The Congress has not just silenced the opposition but also the civil society members who were their biggest threat," said Anjana Mathur, a political science professor at Delhi University.